Category Archives: Callington

And Some Came Home


Callington Town Band, in association with Callington Community College and the People of Callington & District, presented AND SOME CAME HOME.

 

Conceived and written by Shirley Morse and originally staged in 2014, this production has been made possible by a grant from Tesco “Bags of Help” scheme.

The First World War claimed the lives of William John Smith the Town Band’s principal cornet player, who was born and lived at St. Mellion. He joined the 1st Btn. Kings Royal Rifle Corps and was 19 when killed in action on the Western  Front on 14th Sept. 1914, just a few weeks after the war had begun. Also Robert Hicks Pike, born in Callington in 1878, he ran his late father’s drapers shop in Fore St. before he was conscripted during 1916 into 2nd Btn. Grenadier Guards. He died in action on 6th July 1917 aged 39. Continue reading →

Ex-Callington school students


Dear Ex-Callington students,

We have a number of events coming up, one of which is very soon and one slightly further away in time. We are also keen for any of you who would like to to come in to talk to our students about what you do either in assemblies or with classes; departments are always very keen to tell our current students about what you are up to.

Recently we have had scientists, artists, train drivers and ship yard apprenticeships who used to attend the college coming in and telling us all about their lives and careers since leaving Callington. We are also, of course, basking in the reflected glory of alumnus Joff Oddie’s sucess with winning the Mercury Music Prize with his band Wolf Alice.

On Thursday 1st November we are holding an event for our current Year 11 students who are just about to consider their post-sixteen options. If you were able to attend and talk to our students that would be great. The idea is that small groups (6-10) of Year 11s will carousel around different employers/alumni and further education providers to find out what the future could hold for them. The event is due to run from 8.50am until 11.20. If you can’t make it in person but would like to be involved then there are some options:

1: Perhaps someone in the organisation/company that you work for could come along

2: Perhaps you could make a 30 second video about yourself/your work that we could show.

3: Perhaps your organisation has a promotional video that we could show on the day.

Looking further into the future we another calendered event on 14/02/2018 that I am calling ‘I Love My Job’ which will be aimed at the younger children at the college; again, you, your colleagues or your virtual presence would be great.

Thanks for taking the time to read this; you are an essential part of our college community and we are hugely proud of what you have achieved,

Let me know if you can help or if we can help you in any way,

Best wishes

Jonathon Plunkett

Alumni Officer Callington Community College callington@networks.futurefirst.org.uk

Kit Hill U3A Oct. meeting


Kit Hill and Its Habitats with Chrissie Le Marchant
This month we stayed very much at home with a talk about Callington’s dominant feature Kit
Hill which at a height of 334m (1.096ft), stands proudly above the town. It can be seen from all
directions and I always look for it when returning to Callington to know a cup of tea is not far away.
Chrissie is very well qualified to talk about Kit Hill having until recently managed the Country Park.
She is qualified as a geologist and worked for many years in prospecting, gold mining and civil
engineering, including working on the Saltash Tunnel. She now works and volunteers as a Blue
Badge leader, walks leader and ranger and she has a real passion for the area of natural beauty.
She spoke with enthusiasm and knowledge, illustrating her talk with plenty of photos and diagrams.

Continue reading →

Callington U3A


U3A News – At their September meeting Callington U3A were taken on a magical trip to the Galapagos Islands by Ian Casper, a retired teacher from Tavistock, who achieved a lifetime ambition visiting the archipelago. Through pictures he spoke of the differing landscapes, volcanic rock, forestation, plains, shorelines, emerald coves and mangrove lagoons. Ian showed examples of the endemic animals like the inquisitive sea lions who welcome visitors, the gentle endangered Marine Iguana the only lizard that swim and feed from the sea. Roaming the shoreline are the prehistoric looking Land Iguanas, the popular giant tortoise, remember Lonesome George, and the delightfully named crab Sally Lightfoot. He went on to explain the many species of birds, the red and blue footed boobies, the Great Frigate and flightless Cormorant that have developed skills to swim instead of fly. There are 14 species of finch. One Finch breed lives alongside the tortoise eradicating annoying insects from them. The tortoise support this toilette by raising their legs to help the procedure! Amazing flora and fauna grow on the equatorial islands.  Ferns and trees, a cactus that grows on lava and mangrove seeds that floated to the islands and grew into large vegetation lagoons. This brief tour of the Galapagos was extremely interesting thanks to Ian Casper. Maybe one day some of us can make the dream come true.

Next months U3A meeting is Monday Oct 1st 10:45am start at the TOWN HALL, Callington

and will be an illustrated talk about Kit Hill Country Park, it’s history, geology and more.

Kit hill is the highest point in the Tamar Valley and has 400 acres of heathland and is part of the Cornish Mining World Heritage site.

 

September Connection Update


– Sept 2nd CIRCUS FUNTASTIC in aid of Macmillan, Saltash Rd Recreation Field, Callington. Seats £6, Kids under 2 free.  Book on 07447 986900 Show times: Wed 29th 7pm, Thursday & Friday 4pm & 7pm (Thursday Special Family Ticket 20). Sat 2pm & 5pm Sunday 1pm & 3:30pm  

Saturday 8th Sept CALLINGTON CARNIVAL – procession starts from Saltash Road car park, 4:30pm  

Saturday 15th Sept  HARVEST SUPPER, 7:30pm start at The Parish Hall Committee HARVEST SUPPER. Tickets are on sale now, please phone Liz 383202 to reserve your seats. If you are unable to attend and wish to support with a raffle prize or item for the Auction or a donation, please drop off at Green Meadows or phone Ali 384544 for collection. Thank you.

 Wednesday 19th Sept    SHARE AGM, 7:30pm at the Parish Hall Golberdon. South Hill Association for Renewable Energy 3rd AGM. Members and potential new members all welcome to hear about another busy and successful year for the group. Exciting news from M&S Energy, upcoming visits and discuss future projects. Light refreshments available so please email share@south-hill.co.uk if you plan to attend, alternatively send your apologies and any ideas, thoughts or items for discussion.

 Sunday 23rd and Monday 24th Sept – walking THE SAINTS WAY  from Padstow to Fowey (28 miles ish). If you would like to join us for the whole walk or a part,  let Ali know ASAP Thank You iamalihumphreys@yahoo.com  https://www.oliverscornwall.co.uk/saintsway.html

 Friday 28th Sept                MACMILLAN COFFEE MORNING, from 10:30am until 1pm. Lucy Penney is holding a coffee morning at Polhilsa Farm, PL17 8PP (kind permission of the Barriball family) Coffee, cake, games and raffle… Even have a walk around the ponds! All welcome, bring your friends. For any more info please email: lucyede@live.com 

 Other News:

The Horticultural Show write up and pictures are on the Connection web site here.  

Planning – On August 24th the South Hill Parish Council met to discuss the recent planning application at “The Bee Farm” Trevigro. About 20 parishioners also attended to voice their views. The full details can be read on the Cornwall Council Planning Portal here…  

 South Hill Parish History group. Thank you to Magda for stepping forward to get the group started. If you are interested email ….. PLUS what would YOU like to discover more about? Reply to this email with your suggestions. Or if you have photos or information to share email newsdesk@south-hill.co.uk  

If you know of an event you’d like to share or have an article for the next newsletter due Oct 1st, please send to editor@south-hill.co.uk.  Thank you.

 

“And Some Came Home” – support project now


Esme and Seth Blaze show their support for Callington Town Band’s Community project, ‘And Some Came Home’, when they put their tokens in the Town Band ‘Bags of Help’ slot at Callington Tesco.  With just a week or so to go they are hoping that the Town Band, in which both their parents play, will be a worthy winner.

And remember that you can support the project in other ways by coming along to the first Singing Workshop in Callington Town Hall at 10am on July 21st or by volunteering to act.  Contact Shirley Morse (01579 360336 or shirleyamorse@gmail.com) for more information.

This is the first event in the re-running of ‘And Some Came Home’, the successful community commemoration of WW1 that was first performed in 2014.

With a cast of local singers, actors and musicians the 2018 performances will take place in the Town Hall on October 26th and 27th with free admission.

If you can’t make it to the first session and would like to take part in any capacity then please contact Shirley Morse now on 01579 350336 or shirleyamorse@gmail.com

Come and meet the donkey


Palm Sunday, 25th March, St Sampson’s Church, South Hill, are planning an informal service, with a real donkey, A good natured miniature chap called Corduroy, who is a local resident. it will take place at Golberdon parish Hall at 10am We will have a short walk of witness and singing, led by the donkey, starting from outside Green Meadow, (on the road towards South Hill) to the hall, join us there or along the route, or at the hall, bring a branch to wave. This will be followed by a short friendly service, biscuit making for all ages, tea coffee and hot cross buns.
Contact judithayers@yahoo.co.uk for more information.

Callington U3A November


U3A speaker report 6th November 2017
Today’s speakers were Steve Marker and Emma Jones from Hansford Bell, Chartered Financial Planners, Tavistock.
Their subject was Financial Life Planning in Retirement
Steve started by speaking about the recent changes in the Regulations for Financial Advisers, ie no commissions, minimum qualification levels raised, and others.
What is Financial Life Planning, it covers 4 main areas. 1: Life Planning Stage
2: Financial Planning Stage 3: Financial Advice Stage 4: Regular Reviews 6mths/annual.
Their advice in the Life Planning Stage was to prepare Goals (bucket list). If it all’s ends what would you regret not doing. Or if you had 5 years to live what would you do. Or if you had 24 hrs to live what would you regret not doing! And to have the conversation with your partner.
The advice in the Financial Planning Stage was to analyse existing finances, wants, needs and goals, the stress test. Do a cash flow chart, income, expenditure, total assets, net worth, money for care and a disaster scenario. The Financial Advice Stage consisted of, how much is enough, Care cost Planning, estate distribution, Inheritance Tax Planning and wills. Also the facts about gifting money, £6000 per couple per year, £5000 for a wedding etc. Regular Review Stage was to keep on top of your finances.
Emma then talked about Equity Release and how you could release funds tied up in your property. It was a very interesting talk, it showed us that Planning is very important in later years.
If you are interested in joining us at the Callington U3A please go to …. www.u3asites.org.uk/Callington or come along on the first Monday of the month to the Callington Town Hall at 10am.
Gillian Brown

U3A Tamar Valley Study Day


Callington U3A …2017 Study Day entitled: The Tamar Valley, Past Present and Future.
An audience of 120 gathered for this full day event at Callington Town Hall on October 25th.
The Study Day started with a very interesting BBC DVD entitled Tamar Valley Voyage, from The Great British Story series. It followed the life of the valley from the Roman Hill Fort at Calstock, to the present day. It gave us a picture of how the valley was exploited for its minerals such as tin, copper, arsenic, lead, feldspar, silver, tungsten as they came in and out of use for over 2000yrs. It taught us about how unique the Cornish language is. And the history of the civil war with the battles of Horsebridge and the fight for the tin. It concluded that valley today has one of the finest areas of outstanding natural beauty.
We had 4 speakers scheduled throughout the day,’ the first was Rick Stewart the Mine Manager at Morwellham Quay. He told the story of how the River was the highway to transport minerals. The first evidence of mining on the Bere Peninsula was in 1290 for lead, silver, tin, copper and chalcopyrite this was not shaft mining, but Stream Panning. Shaft mining began in the Mediaeval times, they wanted the tin, as copper was valueless until they discovered how to achieve the temperature with coal to smelt it in 1688/9. During the eighteenth to early twentieth centuries, a period of major industrialisation which impacted significantly on the predominantly rural landscape. The populations of villages and towns such as Gunnislake, Drakewalls, Luckett and Tavistock increased dramatically during the nineteenth century as a result of the burgeoning mining industry. Copper mining and arsenic production in particular were to dominate the fortunes of the Tamar Valley through into the twentieth century. Devon Great Consols was at one time the largest copper producer in Europe and, later in its productive life, able to supply half the world’s demand for arsenic. If you wish for more information go to www.cornish-mining.org.uk 

Continue reading →

Raising Funds for St Sampson’s


St Sampson’s Church are contacting architects to draw up plans for our renovations and improvements to the building and we are also looking at many funding options.

Did you know that whenever you buy anything online – from your weekly shop to your annual holiday – you could be collecting free donations for St Sampson’s Church, South Hill?

There are over 3,000 shops and sites on board ready to make a donation, including Amazon, John Lewis, Aviva, the trainline and Tesco – it doesn’t cost you a penny extra

It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3… 

1. Head to https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/stsampsonschurch/ and join for free.

2. Every time you shop online, go to easyfundraising first to find the site you want and start shopping.

3. After you’ve checked out, that retailer will make a donation to your good cause for no extra cost whatsoever.

There are no catches or hidden charges and St Sampson’s Church, South Hill, Cornwall will be really grateful for your donations to help with the ongoing upkeep of this beautiful church.

Thank you for your support.